Management Recommendations: Learn from Others

When we think of management, often we imagine people in business environments, however, managers exist in the public sphere as well, and hence we have the term “public management,” also known as “public administration.” Recommendations given in this section apply to both management in the private and public sectors, and are mostly excerpts from academic articles or books written by the staff of the organization, GPN, or famous writers and researchers in business management and public administration.

While this section is dedicated to management, advice and content related to other fields of study are considered in section 2, “Academic Thoughts & Experience: In the words of GPN-ers”

Excerpt 1

On Being “Nice ‘n’ Tough” vs. “Tough ‘n’ Nice” manager

Blanchard & Johnson, (2004) illustrated the different impact made by being “Nice ‘n’ Tough” and “Tough ‘n’ Nice” as a manager with the story of an emperor who swapped roles with his prime minister:

Once upon a time, an emperor appointed a second in command. He called his prime minister in and, in effect, said to him, ‘why don’t we divide up the tasks? Why don’t you do all the punishing and I’ll do all the rewarding?’ the prime minister said, ‘fine.’ I’ll do all the punishing and you do all the rewarding.’ Now this emperor… soon noticed that whenever he asked someone to do something, they might do it or they might not do it. However, when the prime minister spoke, people moved. So the emperor called the prime minister back in and said, ‘why don’t we divide the tasks again? You have been doing all the punishing here for quite a while. Now let me do the punishing and you do the rewarding.’ So the prime minister and the emperor switched roles again. And, within a month the prime minister was emperor. The emperor had been a nice person, rewarding and being kind to everyone; then he started to punish people. People said, ‘what’s wrong with that old codger?’ and they threw him out on his ear. When they came to look for a replacement, they said, ‘you know who’s really starting to come around now – the prime minister.’ So, they put him right into office (Blanchard & Johnson, 2004: 88-89).

Author’s Remark: To this story taking place in ancient China as they claimed, Blanchard and Johnson (2004: 89) pointed out that “if you are first tough on the behavior, and then supportive of the person, it works.”

In his book, The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli (1513) said, “one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two has to be wanting” (2008:69). Defending this argument, he explained that “men love at their own free will, but fear at the will of the prince (leader), and that a wise prince must rely on what is in his power and not on what is in the power of others” (2008:71). In reality, however, EI can offer that social power (love). In the effort of winning over the Afrikaners, Mandela, for example, displayed this EI power when he said, “you don’t address their brains,” to his followers, “you address their hearts” (Carlin, 2008:148). In fact, it was the power of such emotional competence that helped change South Africa, free from the fear of social oppressions. And it was this emotionally intelligent leadership style that rewarded Mandela the reputation of being a loved leader with “integrity, dignity and charm” (Adair, 2010:10). Those three qualities, for example, were the basic power constructs Mandela had, but his communication skills were also a big asset for addressing people’s hearts. In management as in politics, emotionally intelligent communication help attain objectives, which include curbing violence. As ILO and its collaborators (2002:19) pointed out, “a management style based on openness, communication and dialog, in which caring attitudes and respect for the dignity of individuals are priorities, can greatly contribute to the diffusion and elimination of workplace violence.” A Machiavellian skill makes up “hard power” constructs, it possesses the ability to bully (Nye Jr., 2008:83) among other destructive capabilities like intimidation and threats. Some destructive behavior like bullying, for example, was defined by the Sheffield City Council as “the misuse of power to intimidate somebody in a way which leaves them feeling hurt, angry, vulnerable or powerless” (in Rayner et al., 2002:9). With misuse of power, leaders can become nothing but anger-dispensing machines and murder instruments.

Author’s Remark: This article is pretty much self-explanatory, so anyone would understand it without any comments.

Source:

Danarson, Jules H. (2014) “The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Curbing Workplace Violence.” American International Journal of Contemporary Research, 4(5):159-171